The Albanese Government claims the Freedom of Information system is costing too much, but it’s the secrecy that is costing us. What’s the scam?
The scam is it’s government secrecy that is driving up costs, not the search for information to keep the public informed. It’s the secrecy culture that exists in public service FOI teams. It’s a case of ‘secrecy with a little bit of transparency’, not ‘transparency with a little bit of secrecy’.
The starting point in the FOI Act is that you’re entitled to the documents you request, unless there is some good reason you can’t have them. The Government bears the onus of establishing an exemption to access. However, the modus operandi of FOI departments is to start with the idea you can have nothing, and then work from there towards some minimum disclosure.
Here’s an example of an FOI team proposing an extension to processing so they can determine “whether certain material within the documents can be released”.
Email extract from the Department of Industry, Science and Resources
The documents I’m after in this particular case are the plans of the Albanese Government for a National Radioactive Waste Management Facility after the Federal Court set aside the Morrison Government’s decision to put one at Kimba in South Australia.
Where are the AUKUS nuclear waste costings (let alone the dump sites)?
The government secrecy is driving up costs. Transparency Jedi and their apprentices in the community will take matters to the Information Commissioner and the Administrative Appeal Tribunal as a remedy to the culture. That involves resourcing and lawyers’ fees.
Mr Albanese doesn’t get it – secrecy is so much more expensive than transparency.